Sociologists can be surprisingly useful in interactive systems design

This paper makes a case, to system developers, for inter-disciplinary working and the involvement of sociologists in the systems design process. Our argument is based on the fact that effective systems must take account of the social context in which these systems are situated. The paper is based on our experiences of working with sociologists in a study of air traffic control automation. We describe the model of working which we use and which we believe allows effective utilisation of the skills of both disciplines. We then set out precursors for effective inter-disciplinary collaboration and how people from radically different backgrounds can work in harmony. Finally, we discuss some of the problems of collaboration which are likely to arise.